Spurs Coach Popovich Fears America is now “Rome” (Get a Grip)

Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs, spent time on Friday night discussing something other than basketball.

“I’m still sick to my stomach, and not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenor, tone and all the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic,” he said before the Spurs’ home game against the Detroit Pistons. “And I live in that country where half the people ignored all that to elect someone. That’s the scariest part of [the] whole thing to me.

“It’s got nothing to do with the environment, Obamacare and all the other stuff. We live in a country that ignored all those values that we would hold our kids accountable for.”

And this is a valid point. It’s one that has been made on these pages by myself and others many times over, on the path to the White House.

Were Trump the 8-year old child he’s acted like, he would have been grounded and had his internet privileges taken from him, long ago.

Of if he was in my house, he would have had his backside warmed up to a low broil.

Popovich went on.

“Values to me are more important than anybody’s skill in business or anything else because it tells who we are, how we want to live and what kind of people we are,” he said. “That’s why I have great respect for people like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, John Kasich, who I disagree with on a lot of political things. But they had enough fiber and respect for humanity and tolerance for all groups to say what they said about the man.”

Ok. That’s fair.

Popovich was really feeling his tantrum, apparently, because when a reporter attempted to direct him back to the subject of sports, he wasn’t ready to let it go.

“I’m not done,” he said. “One could go on and on. We didn’t make this stuff up. He’s angry at the media because they reported what he said and how he acted. It’s ironic to me. It just makes no sense. So that’s my real fear. And that’s what gives me so much pause and makes me feel so badly, that the country is willing to be that intolerant and not understand the empathy that’s necessary to understand other groups’ situations.

“I’m a rich, white guy. And I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. I couldn’t imagine being a Muslim right now or a woman or an African-American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person, and how disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups that voted for him, it’s just beyond my comprehension how they ignored all that.”

As his remarks ended, Popovich said he was concerned that the U.S. is on the same path as the Roman Empire.

“My final conclusion is, my big fear is, we are Rome,” he said.

And this is where I have to interject my own thoughts on how Trump rose to his position, in spite of being against everything decent and good about humanity.

For starters, there is a large segment of this society that can’t imagine what it is to be Muslim, African-American, Hispanic, handicapped, homosexual, a woman, or any other special interest group.

For my part, I get the woman thing, of course, but I have to say this: I am as offended by Hillary Clinton and Democrats feeling she was owed my vote, simply by virtue of her gender, as I am offended by Trump’s misogyny.

And for everyone else, who have, for years now, because they didn’t fall in one of those named protected classes, have been relentlessly beaten over the head with talk of their “privilege,” they finally hit a wall, in regards to their tolerance.

During the Obama years the piling on was accelerated.

Add that to the fact that most of those Trump supporters are working class, and have been hurt by Obama and the Democrats’ policies, so they just weren’t seeing the fruits of their so-called privilege.

The left overplayed their hand. They were given a lot of ground in the social justice wars, for years, and all in the name of tolerance.

Unfortunately, their own tolerance was sorely lacking and they pushed too hard. All their cries of victimhood became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as those they deemed “oppressors” got sick of it.

Trump, as loathsome as he is, was seen as the equivalent of a good, hard shove back.

As for those who do fall into one of those protected classes, and who did vote for Trump, I imagine they all had their own reasons, but largely, I feel it has to do with no solutions of merit coming from the Democrats.

Hillary was an awful candidate from the start and represented an old Democrat dynasty.

Ultimately, it is going to take time to see if Trump is as big of a disaster as many of us predict his presidency will be.

I’d personally like to be wrong. For the sake of this nation, I’m hoping he gets good people around him and does a fine job.

For Popovich, and every other liberal whiner, who just can’t understand how this happened, however, they’d better learn to start respecting differences in everyone, and not just those who are a part of the left’s privileged minorities.

You can only tell people how awful they are for so long before they stop caring about your feelings and start protecting their own.